Trailer hitch with auxiliary safety connections

ABSTRACT

An apparatus for securing a trailer to a towing vehicle comprising at least two connecting means attached to the tongue of the trailer, the connecting means including cylinder means connected to the trailer, spring means located inside the cylinder means, and cable means connecting the spring means to the towing vehicle.

Ehauncey TRAILER HITCH WITH AUXILIARY SAFETY CONNECTIONS [76] Inventor:Edward W. Chauncey, Rt. 1, Box

519, Walker, La. 70785 [22] Filed: May 22, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 255,451

[52] US. Cl 280/486, 280/432 [51] Int. Cl 362d 53/06 [58] Field ofSearch... 280/446, 457, 459, 483-489,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,808,272 10/1957 Reese280/484 X 1,208,430 12/1916 Wigle ..267/71R ,,Fan, 22, 1974 3,140,0807/1964 Rumsey 280/486 X 2,125,702 8/1938 Watson t 280/486 X 2,709,6045/1955 Hartman 280/489 X 2,689,750 9/1954 Van Horn 280/457 R 2,650,1018/1953 Frankfother 280/457 R Primary Examiner-Leo Friaglia AssistantExaminer-Randall A. Schrecengost 57 ABSTRACT An apparatus for securing atrailer to a towing vehicle comprising at least two connecting meansattached to the tongue of the trailer, the connecting means includingcylinder means connected to the trailer, spring means located inside thecylinder means, and cable means connecting the spring means to thetowing vehicle. v

9 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures TRAILER HITCH WITH AUXILIARY SAFETYCONNECTIONS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relatesgenerally to vehicle and trailer connections, but more particularly to asafety hitch for trailers. In particular, this invention is directed toan added hitch construction which is to be used in conjunction with thecustomary conventional main hitch, such as a ball and socket hitch,between the draft means on a truck or other leading vehicle, and atrailer tongue. The number of trailers in general use on the highwaystoday and the danger resulting from the failure of a coupling imposes agreat deal of attention upon the development of a safety device adaptedto hold a trailer on failure of the main or primary attachemnt.

Several factors must be taken into consideration in designing such ahitch. Not only must there be freedom of movement about a vertical axisas the vehicle turns the comer, but a considerable amount of hingeaction on a horizontal axis also takes place as the pulling vehicle andthe trailer go over bumps or sharply crested hills.

The usual trailer hitch centers primarily on a bolt or ball acting as ahinge pin arranged on a vertical axis. To avoid the danger resultingfrom the failure of the primary hinge connection, it is the usual customto connect chains or cables from the trailer to a portion of the towingvehicle on opposite sides of the primary hitch. Failure of the hitchwill then not result in the complete loss of control of the trailer. Thechains still maintain a certain degree of movement of attachemnt to thetowing vheicle. As is obvious, the trouble with this arrangement issimply the fact that the use of chains still establishes enough freedombetween the trailer and the towing vehicle that the directionalstability of the trailer is extremely bad. In addition, the chainsfrequently break due to the shock placed thereon immediately after theprimary hitch fails.

Many different kinds of safety type auxiliary trailer hitches have beendisclosed in the prior art.'U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,838,325; 2,689,750;2,464,392; 2,459,965; 2,294,710; 1,289,141; 1,208,430; 1,006,950; and537,346 disclose various types of connection devices. It is thereforethe primary object of the present invention to provide an auxiliary typetrailer hitch which is structurally and functionally superior to theauxiliary trailer hitches of the prior art, in addition to being simplerin construction and lower in cost.

THE INVENTION In accordance with the present invention there is providedan apparatus for securing a trailer to the'draft member of a towingvehicle, including at least two connecting means attached to the tongueof the trailer, the connecting means including cylinder means connectedto the trailer, spring means located inside said cylinder means, andcable means connecting said spring means to said other vehicle.

The invention will be more clearly understood by referring to thedrawings in which FIG 1l--shows a side view of one of the connectingmeans of the present invention;

FIG. 2shows the top view of one of the connecting means of the presentinvention;

. present invention.

Referring now to FIGS. 4 and 5, connecting means 8 can be seen toconnect trailer tongue 25 to draft member 24. Draft member 24 isconnected to the towing vehicle (not shown) and may be a truck orautomobile rear bumper, for example. As seen in FIG. 4, pin 10 connectsone end of connecting means 8 to draft member 24. The other end ofconnecting means 8 is is attached to trailer tongue 25 by bracket 16.Bracket 16 may be connected to trailer tongue 25 by any suitable meanssuch as welding, bolting, and the like.

The exterior element of connecting means 8 can be seen most clearly byreference to FIGS. 1 and 2. Pin 10 fits through hole 12 in clevis 11 toconnect the clevis to the draft member shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. Clevis I1is connected to flexible wire cable 13 by any suitable means such aswelding, clamping, and the like. Cable 13 extends into the interior ofcylinder 15. Cylinder 15 is connected to bracket 16 by bolt 17 and nut18. Bolt 17 fits through holes 20-20, shown in FIG. 3, of bracket 16 andthrough the cylindrical hole 23 in cylinder 15. A washer may beoptionally connected between the nut 18 and bracket 16.

The interior of cylinder 15 can be seen in FIGS. 3 and. 4. As can beseen in FIG. 3, cable 13 extends through the interior of spring 21, thespring 21 being located in the interior of cylinder 15. Spring 21 may beany conventional helical metal spring. The end of cable 13 located incylinder 15 is connected to slide 22 by clamping, welding, or any othersuitable means. Slide 22 engages spring 21 when clevis 11 is pulled awayfrom cylinder 15, thereby depressing spring 21 and increasing the forceexerted by draft member 24 on trailer tongue 25. Cable 13 travels backand forth through a hole in the end 29 of cylinder 15. The end 29 ofcylinder 15 also holds spring 21 within the cylinder. As can be seen inFIGS. 2,3 and 4, a hole 27 is located in cylinder 15 at some distancefrom the end 29 of cylinder 15. When clevis 11 is drawn away fromcylinder 15 thereby compressing spring 21 sufficiently to allow slide 22to slide past hole 27 toward the end 29 of cylinder 15, a pin 28 may beinserted into hole 27. Spring 21 is thereby placed under compressionand, as a result thereof, more force is required to pull clevis 11 awayfrom cylinder 15 then was required when pin 28 was removed from hole 27and spring 21 was fully extended. The hole may be located any desireddistance along .the length of cylinder 15 to provide the desired amountof compression on spring 21.

The length of the cable 13 is chosen to be such that should trailerhitch 26 become disattached from the standard ball connection (not shownin the drawings) mounted on draft member 24, the trailer tongue couldnot slide a sufficient distance backward from draft member 24 to allowthe trailer tongue to fall off of draft member 24. Before it reaches thepoint at which the trailer hitch 26 would fall off of .draft member 24,spring 21 would be fully compressed'and would not allow clevis 11 toextend any greater distance away from cylinder 15.

It is preferred that cable 13 be a flexible cable, such as steel wirecable, etc., but it is conceivable that cable 13 could be a solid metalrod made of steel or other similar metal, or be made from an organicpolymer such as nylon or polystyrene, for example. The various othercomponents of the invention may be made from steel or other metal alloyswell known in the art.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles ofthe invention. Further, since numerous modifications or changes willreadily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limitthe invention to the exact construction and operation shown and de- Iscribed.

What is claimed is: 1. An apparatus for securing a trailer to a towingvehicle having a ball trailer hitch, comprising:

a. cylinder means having a first end and a second end, b. bracket meansattached to said first end of said cylinder means for connecting saidcylinder means to said trailer, v

0. spring means located inside said cylinder means,

d. cable means extending through said second end of said cylinder means,said cable means having a first end and a second end,

i. said first end of said cable means being located outside saidcylinder means and having means connected thereto for connecting saidcable means to said towing vehicle at a point adjacent said ball trailerhitch, and

ii. said second end of said cable means being located inside saidcylinder means and having slide means connected thereto for contactingand compressing the spring means against said second end of saidcylinder means.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said cylinder means is a hollowcylinder.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said cylinder has a hole in saidsecond end for receipt of said cable means.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said spring means comprises ahelical metal spring, said helical spring being located inside saidcylinder means.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein the outside diameter of said helicalspring is equal to the inside diameter of said cylinder means.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said first means for connecting saidcylinder to a trailer comprises a U"-shaped bracket having a bolttherein.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said second means for connectingsaid cable to said towing vehicle comprises a clevis means.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said cylinder means has hole meanstherein between said first end and said second end for receipt of a pin.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said cable means is of sufficientlength to prevent the tongue of said trailer from falling off of saidtowing vehicle.

1. An apparatus for securing a trailer to a towing vehicle having a balltrailer hitch, comprising: a. cylinder means having a first end and asecond end, b. bracket means attached to said first end of said cylindermeans for connecting said cylinder means to said trailer, c. springmeans located inside said cylinder means, d. cable means extendingthrough said second end of said cylinder means, said cable means havinga first end and a second end, i. said first end of said cable meansbeing located outside said cylinder means and having means connectedthereto for connecting said cable means to said towing vehicle at apoint adjacent said ball trailer hitch, and ii. said second end of saidcable means being located inside said cylinder means and having slidemeans connected thereto for contacting and compressing the spring meansagainst said second end of said cylinder means.
 2. The apparatus ofclaim 1 wherein said cylinder means is a hollow cylinder.
 3. Theapparatus of claim 2 wherein said cylinder has a hole in said second endfor receipt of said cable means.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1 whereinsaid spring means comprises a helical metal spring, said helical springbeing located inside said cylinder means.
 5. The apparatus of claim 4wherein the outside diameter of said helical spring is equal to theinside diameter of said cylinder means.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1wherein said first means for connecting said cylinder to a trailercomprises a ''''U''''-shaped bracket having a bolt therein.
 7. Theapparatus of claim 1 wherein said second means for connecting said cableto said towing vehicle comprises a clevis means.
 8. The apparatus ofclaim 1 wherein said cylinder means has hole means therein between saidfirst end and said second end for receipt of a pin.
 9. The apparatus ofclaim 1 wherein said cable means is of sufficient length to prevent thetongue of said trailer from falling off of said towing vehicle.